


Grandfather

by ChangeTheCircumstances



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Ben finds out about his grandfather, F/M, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 15:05:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6120319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChangeTheCircumstances/pseuds/ChangeTheCircumstances
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leia loved to tell stories about her father, certainly more than any war story that she could conjure up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grandfather

**Author's Note:**

> So I will always love the idea of Anakin getting to raise his kids but in canon, Bail was Leia's father and this story came from that idea. Please enjoy.

Leia loved to tell stories about her father, certainly more than any war story that she could conjure up. She loved remembering his smile and the way he would hold her up and carry her around. She loved to tell stories of her home world, to remember its beauty rather than the asteroid field it had become.

When Ben rode a speeder for the first time, he crashed it and had been so distraught over it, even more so from how Han had reprimanded him. But Leia had held him tight and told him of her first time on a speeder. She had been younger than him and had stolen it on top of that without telling anyone. She spoke of how angry her father had gotten when he’d found out only to hold her tight and cry with worry over not knowing where she had been. Afterwards, her father had taken to teaching her how to ride a speeder, how to fly, and just about everything else in the hopes that she would be ready for anything.

Leia did the same with Ben. The only thing she didn’t teach him was the art needed to fly the Falcon. That was all Han’s doing.

Though plenty thought it was Han who was more put off with the responsibility of a child, in truth, Leia had been the most shocked when she’d gone through with it all, when she’d kept the child and decided to name it Ben. For a long time, there had been nothing but the war and she hadn’t envisioned much of a life for herself. But when Ben was born, she saw the possibility of a beautiful future.

More than anything, Leia wished her father could have lived to see Ben. She knew that she could have asked him anything and his help would have been invaluable. He’d raised her after all.

Often, it was her father’s teachings and memory that guided Leia when she taught Ben and led him through life. When something went wrong, Leia did what her father would have done: a stern talking, then a kind smile, and finally the comfort of a warm hug.

When Ben was young, he asked about the war with the Galactic Empire constantly, wanting to know more about how his mother and father had been instrumental in its destruction. As he had gotten older and realized the hesitance that came when even speaking the Empire’s name, Ben stopped asking after those stories. He asked about his grandfather, stories that he knew Leia was all to willing to tell.

For Leia, the fact that Ben seemed so in love and in awe of his grandfather often broke her heart while making it soar at the same time. What she would give to have her father see Ben just once, to hold him, to know all that he had done in raising the boy, even without being there.

And then one day Ben stormed into their home, shaking and red eyed, looking like he was on the verge of collapsing. Leia tried to grab hold of him and wrap him into a hug, to pull him closer, but he pushed her away instead.

“You lied to me!” he yelled. His voice was hoarse and scratchy. “You lied!”

“Ben,” Leia tried, “I’m sorry but I don’t know what—”

“Were all those stories fabricated?! Huh? Did you just make that grandfather up?!”

Leia’s momentary confusion turned to anger. “How dare you say such a thing about my father! What has brought this on?”

“No he’s not! He’s not your father!” yelled Ben. “So what is it? Did you make it up or did you just pick a random guy and decided to trade labels?!”

“Trade-Bail Organa was the Viceroy of Alderaan! He was an instrumental leader of the Rebellion and he led Alderaan for years in the Senate, both before and after the rise of the Galactic Empire! He raised me and cared for me and taught me everything that I know,” Leia got out, her yelling turning steely and cold. “He was my father and your grandfather so tell me exactly where this has all come from.”

“You’re still lying to me! He’s not my grandfather! Darth Vader was!”

Leia’s skin grew cold. “Who told you—”

“Does it matter?! You’ve lied to me my entire life!”

“Ben,” murmured Leia, her anger suddenly leaving her, “if we talk of blood, then Anakin Skywalker was your grandfather but he didn’t raise me. He died before I was born. Darth Vader was a monster—”

“He was my grandfather! You should have told me the truth!” yelled Ben.

“Ben…perhaps in another life, Anakin Skywalker could have been your grandfather and my father. Perhaps he would have been an amazing one. But Darth Vader was never your grandfather. He wasn’t even human—”

“It doesn’t matter! You lied! You lied about who I was, my family, my past, everything!”

“Ben this doesn’t change anything—”

“This changes everything!” screamed Ben. “And for your information, I’d rather have Darth Vader as a grandfather than Bail Organa! At least he accomplished something in his life! All Bail did was get his entire planet destroyed!”

And with that, Ben was gone, the door slamming behind him. The silence that was left was heavier than gravity and dragged Leia to the floor.

That night, as Leia stared at a holopicture of her father and rubbed the family ring between her fingers, she decided to send Ben to live with Luke. Despite her son never having met Bail Organa, she had seen a lot of her father in him and had taken it as a sign that she was raising him right. However, that day she hadn’t seen a shred of her father left in Ben. Perhaps her brother could make her son see sense, see that family was more than just blood.

However, as she sat there tracing the etchings of her family ring with the decision still clear in her head, Leia lost three things. She lost Ben. She lost her future.

And she lost her father all over again.


End file.
